NAEC Student Headed to Queen’s Park as a Page

Jeff Green | Nov 08, 2023

Henry (Hank) Hasler, a grade 8 student at North Addington Education Centre, lives with his family in a hobby farm property near the small hamlet of Flinton.

But for the next five weeks, he will be living in a larger town, Toronto, commuting each day to Queen’s Park, as he participates in the Page Program.

Henry learned about the program from his parents, who are both educators – his father Joel teaches at NAEC and his mother Beth is Vice Principal at Napanee District Secondary School.

“I did not know much about it before I decided to apply,” he said, when interviewed at the school last week, but I was interested.”

He submitted an essay that he wrote at the beginning of the summer as part of the application process. The essay was about his own achievements and goals.

“I did not think that I wrote that great an essay, to be honest, but it must have been okay, because I was selected.”

About 600 students submitted applications for the position, and only 60 were chosen, so the essay must have been better than Henry thought.

In October, Henry traveled to Toronto with his father to attend an all-day orientation session.

“Most of the other pages were from Toronto or the GTA”, Joel said, “so they can commute from home, but it will be more complicated for us. Luckily, Henry can stay with relatives in Toronto, and will have the opportunity to learn how to use the Toronto subway system, but the first week will be spent with his grandmother in a hotel.”

“The orientation day was interesting and I met some of the other pages,” Henry said, “there was a lot to learn.”

He found out, as well, that the first day when he will be in the house will be a historic day.

“The new Lieutenant Governor is going to be sworn in on that day, which is really exciting,” he said.

Edith Dumont will be appointed as the 30th Lieutenant Governor in Ontario history, on November 14. She has the distinction of being the first ever Franco-Ontarian to take on the role.

During the five weeks from November 14 to December 19, when the legislature will be in the thick of its 2023 fall session, pages serve as messengers on the floor of the legislative chamber, meet key parliamentary figures and learn about the parliamentary system of government in Ontario.

One of the potential outcomes of the program is to develop friendships with other pages from across the province. Before the start of the term, pages must also learn the names of the MPPs in the house, a daunting task, as there are over 100.

During a typical day of the program, pages arrive at about 8am, dress in their uniform, a suit provided to them while they are at Queen’s Park, then prepare the chamber for the morning’s debates. As the day progresses, pages are involved in a number of activities including: taking classes in legislative process and math, delivering messages and water for the MPPs in the chamber, and meeting with legislative players such as the party leaders and the Speaker of the House.

For Henry Hasler, all of that will be in addition to getting used to travelling around the City of Toronto, to family in the Gerrard and Coxwell, and Danforth neighbourhoods.

“It will be good for him to learn about city life,” said his father.